More Marxist Breadcrumbs 9/28/07

In the real world Communism has been discredited as a system. When the USSR failed, it proved that ideological socialism coupled to the apparatus of state terror is no way to run a country, though it is an effective way to create Hell on Earth. And yet Marxist and Communist memes persist because there are still useful idiots lurking like parasites who continue to spread Marxist propaganda to people who never thought about it.

And there are those who for some reason need to educate their fellow man about the inhuman evil that is Communism and Socialism.

Griffiths aptly stated that, ” … we have the freedom to make mistakes, and the freedom to make other people pay for them.” I heartily disagree – we do have the freedom to make mistakes, but we do not have the freedom to make others pay for them.

This is a “privilege” granted by the socialist government programs in practice (Social Security, welfare, Medicare/Medicaid) that have been, over time, proven inherently flawed.

I would like to know if Griffiths is the only child in her family, or if maybe she would have been one of those aborted had the same restrictions that exist in China existed here.

Grosse is correct. When someone makes a mistake and then makes others pay for their mistake, that is called theft or fraud… or socialism.

The watermelons (green on the outside, red on the inside) take a turn too. Check out this string of assertions.

The anarchy of the profit-based system leads to convoluted “solutions” like carbon offsetting to address the growing crisis of global warming. These are not solutions at all. [WP: This is true. Carbon offsets are a scam.]

Socialism is the real answer to the dire problems faced by the planet and its inhabitants. Socialism is a system based on centralized economic planning without the profit motive.

While socialist planning by itself cannot resolve the environmental crisis, it lays the basis for us to organize life to meet human needs while protecting the planet that sustains us.

After Walter Willams’ dinner speech last night, Robert Barro asked a question about whether the government had any obligation to provide any socialist-type safety-net programs for the general good.

Walter responded something like this. “Let me make this perfectly clear. I support and practice many types of socialist programs including income redistribution, welfare payments, disability support, free health care, and social saftey nets. But I only practice socialism IN MY OWN FAMILY; and socialism like this only works when you know the names of the people involved. In any situation when you personally can’t name everybody involved, then the market is superior to socialism.”

Q. Didn’t the U.S. Defense Department come out with a report saying that Cuba is not a threat to the United States?

A. Yes, although the report’s drafter turned out to be Ana Belen Montes, a woman who was convicted for espionage on behalf of the Cuban regime. Although Cuba may not pose a conventional military threat to the U.S., it clearly demonstrated, with Ana Belen Montes, that it is an intelligence threat. The Cuban regime considers itself an enemy of the USG and is an instigator of anti-American activities all over the world, especially in Latin America. Its functionaries in Venezuela and Bolivia right now are helping leaders there assault those countries’ democratic institutions. Cuba is on the list of countries that support international terrorism; any intelligence it picks up from the USA, it can be expected to pass on to other rogue states or groups that are enemies of the USA.

HAVANA—Largely alert and lucid, Fidel Castro made a surprise appearance on a TV news program Friday night in a pre-recorded, hour-long interview, speaking about an essay he wrote last week condemning the U.S. for threatening the global economy.

His appearance was unusual because Castro has largely been out of the public eye since he underwent emergency intestinal surgery 14 months ago.

The government has at times shown photographs and video of Castro, but his exact illness and prognosis have been kept secret. His last state TV interview was in June.

Saturated with innumerable, carefully sketched dark lines and splashes of glaring red, Peter Sís’ new book could be two different things: a children’s story about communism or an adult book with illustrations.

Originally created to help his children better understand his past, the autobiographical, visual narrative is shelved under children’s literature, but it prevails as an engaging adult book centered on Sís’ childhood in Cold War-era Prague.

In ‘Democracy and Revolution,’ Raby argues that Cuba, and above all Venezuela, provide inspiration for anti-globalization and anti-capitalist movements across the world. Another world is possible, but only through an effective political strategy to win power on a popular and democratic basis.

Raby argues passionately that the way forward for progressives is not to be found in the dogmatic formulae of the Old Left, nor in the spontaneous autonomism of John Holloway or Tony Negri. Instead, it is to be found in new, broad and flexible popular movements with bold and determined leadership.

Examining the relationship of key leaders to their people, including Hugo Chavez and the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, Raby shows that it is more necessary than ever to take power, peacefully where possible, but in all cases with the strength that comes from popular unity backed by force where necessary. In this way it is possible to build democratic power, which may or may not be socialist depending on one’s definition, but which represent the real anti-capitalist alternative for the twenty-first century.

Diana Raby is Senior Research Fellow at the Research Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Liverpool (UK) and also holds the rank of Professor Emeritus in the Department of History, University of Toronto, where she taught for many years.

She is the author of numerous academic publications on populism, popular movements and revolution, with reference particularly to Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela and Portugal.

Diana has also long been active in solidarity movements and progressive political causes in both Canada and the UK.

Just to underline the point, “Raby shows that it is more necessary than ever to take power, peacefully where possible, but in all cases with the strength that comes from popular unity backed by force where necessary.” She is a thug at heart, as are all communist revolutionaries.

Venezuela has drawn attention because of the rhetoric from President Hugo Chavez, who appears keen to turn Venezuela, the region’s oldest democracy, into a militarised state.

Venezuela’s armed forces were, for most of the second part of the 20th century, a good example of a professional, modern and competent fighting force, at least by Latin American standards. The National Armed Forces comprise four traditional elements: an army, navy, air force and national guard. They have been traditionally non-political, but recent changes within the armed forces – and a deeper relationship with the Cuban military – have prompted a rethink about their roles and missions. While some institutional change has been under way since 1999, the past few months have seen an acceleration of this process, from symbolism and rhetoric that equates the regime’s importance to the survival of the modern state to organic, administrative and constitutional changes.

In March, the Venezuelan Army began the promotion of what it calls “the new military thought” among its ranks, redefining the armed forces’ active role in the consolidation of 21st century socialism in Venezuela. This was re-affirmed during May, with the official elevation of a new motto: ‘Country, Socialism or Death!’. Each soldier must pronounce these words before referring to a superior. Accordingly, the non-political nature of the armed forces has been challenged as the motto suggests that the armed forces should support whoever is in power and, in this case, socialism is the government’s policy.

Our next contributor is a student trying to get advice. The sad thing about the page is how much bad advice he gets from his fellow students before someone points out that Capitalism is an economic system and Socialism is a political system, but forgets to mention that they work together in China, which is just a lovely place to live if you aren’t Falun Gong.

I am going to be involved in an informal debate in the Real World, not at BABB concerning the merits of Socialism and Capitalism. Now, I know the basics from my Micro- and MacroEconomic courses in college but I want to do some research that really looks into the two systems and criticises them both positivly and negativly (I want to avoid Straw Men versions)

My question: do any of you have any sources you would recommend? I am quite happy to go to the library so the recommended sources do not have to be on the Internet.

Isn’t it interesting that when we see something going on in the world that we don’t like, we compare it to Nazism? People on the far left & far right have done it. Liberals call anyone with even one conservative viewpoint a “Nazi.” Staunch conservatives who oppose abortion have compared it to the Nazis rounding up Jews & sending them to concentration camps. People somehow feel morally superior if they can get away with calling someone they don’t like a Nazi. If you’re one of these people, then I’m going to have to burst your bubble. While the Nazis were bad, they weren’t the ultimate form of evil in the 20th – and even the 21st – century. The ultimate evildoers were communists. Consider:

During Joseph Stalin’s reign, it is estimated that 20 million Russians were rounded up and murdered. Soviet gulags were not completely unlike Nazi concentration camps. The concentration camps existed for about 12 years. Gulags were around for much, much longer. Stalin tends to get a free pass, probably because the Soviets were our allies during World War II.

Opium addiction had been a major problem in China for about two centuries when the communists seized power there in the late 1940s. The communists wiped it out overnight. How did they do it? The communists rounded up all the opium addicts – sometimes entire families – and executed them. Quite an effective drug treatment program, huh? The true number of those who were murdered is unknown, but it has been estimated that between one-quarter & one-third of China’s population was addicted to opium when the communists took over the country.

He sums up the history lecture (drawing on the Black Book of Communism and other sources based on the Soviet Archives) comparing Communism with the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, ending with a sensible suggestion:

So remember, when you see something evil going on in the world, the first words out of your mouth shouldn’t be, “That’s just like what the Nazis would do.” The first words should be, “That’s just like what the Communists did.”